Sunderland officials are ‘very frustrated’ at one thing in their ongoing search for a new head coach.
Sunderland have been managerless since the sacking of Michael Beale on February 19th, more than four months ago.
Fans are growing increasingly frustrated at the lack of movement on the manager front with the players returning for pre-season training in less than two weeks.
Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus released a statement earlier in June, claiming that a head coach appointment was ‘imminent’.
Soon after, the Black Cats saw Liam Rosenior pull out of contention to become the next Sunderland manager, as he pursued the Burnley job instead.
The likes of Marti Cifuentes and Rene Maric are now being linked; Sunderland would need to pay QPR a six-figure compensation fee to bring in Cifuentes, whilst Maric is still largely expected to become Vincent Kompany’s no.2 at Bayern Munich.
Whilst fans remain angered at the club over this prolonged search for a new manager, there’s also something frustrating those behind the scenes.
Work permit process causing Sunderland manager headache
Journalist Michael Graham has now revealed on X that the ‘work permit application process’ is causing Sunderland to be ‘very frustrated’ behind the scenes.
Sunderland are often being linked with managers from overseas, like previous long-term target Will Still, along with previously linked names like Raphael Wicky, Pascal Jansen, and Maric to name a few.
But Graham’s update suggests that Sunderland are finding it difficult to formalise a name from overseas, likely allowing other clubs to come in and poach their managerial targets.
Graham posted on X:
Michael Graham update could mean one thing in Sunderland manager search
Sunderland have signed plenty of players from overseas in the last few years, and so they’ve been through the work permit process many times.
Though it may be different for a manager, with it being a different role, different pay, different compensation and so on.
The likes of Hull City and Norwich City have recently hired managers from overseas and so the process works, and quickly too. But it seems as though Sunderland themselves are just struggling with the process.
And this work permit frustration combined with an inevitable, overall frustration behind the scenes may tempt Louis-Dreyfus and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman into hiring a manager from within the UJK.
Cifuentes will have gotten a work permit to join QPR and so he may soon become a more viable option for Sunderland, who may yet have to pay him out of his current contract in West London.
Either way, Sunderland desperately need a manager in place soon, with fans becoming extremely distributed by the lack of direction and ambition shown by the club so far this summer.